4.14.2011

Senator Durbin (D-IL) Proposes Internet Tax

In the middle of this mess, don't you wish our government would just go ahead and tax us some more? Well, you're in luck! Dick Durbin (D- IL) is pushing the old Internet Tax Bill again.
Just watch as they wait until after tax day to propose adding new taxes, and then come out swinging, singing that timeless classic, "Unfair Advantage".

The proposal--expected to be made public soon after Tax Day--would rewrite the ground rules for Internet and mail order sales by eliminating the ability of Americans to shop at Web sites like Amazon.com and Overstock.com without paying state sales taxes.

Dick Durbin of Illinois, the second most senior Senate Democrat, will introduce the bill after the Easter recess, a Democratic aide told CNET.

"Why should out-of-state companies that sell their products online have an unfair advantage over Main Street bricks-and-mortar businesses?" Durbin said in a speech in Collinsville, Ill., in February. "Out-of-state companies that aren't paying their fair share of taxes are sticking Illinois residents and businesses with the tab."

Call me naive here, but if a "State Sales Tax" can effectively extend itself to the point where it applies to sales made outside of that state, then why stop at sales made in other states? Why not apply a "State Sales Tax" to purchases made internationally? Or in U.S. territories? Maybe IL should start taxing everything its citizens buy while vacationing in Puerto Rico and call it an "Illinois State Sales Tax". If I sit here in Illinois and buy something from TX via a website, how has the government of Illinois participated in that sale? And why should it get some of that money?

The argument they make, and you can be the judge of its validity, is that online retailers who have brick-and-mortar stores or partnerships in Illinois, must charge sales tax, even if the order itself doesn't get filled by a brick-and-mortar store or partner physically located in Illinois, but gets filled by a brick-and-mortar store from another state. The result? It kills jobs. For instance, after Illinois itself passed its own version of this Internet Tax in March (Durbin is simply proposing the Federal Government pass the same law), Amazon.com is now pulling out of its 9,000 affiliations with Illinois businesses. Those brick-and-mortar stores will lose about 25% of their sales, and they will now have to consider cutting jobs or close up shop. More people go on Welfare, loose their house, can't afford to buy things, and the Big-Government party wins once again.

Staying true to the typical Liberal Politicians' way of "selling" such legislation by publicly stating that it will do the opposite of what it will actually do, thus accomplishing what even his opponents (more conservative people) would want, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn drew from some knowledge-base existing very far outside of Basic Laws of Economics, carefully filled himself up with buzzwords, and then spit them out as he explained the glorious virtues of Illinois's new Internet Tax law:

“Illinois’ main street businesses are critical to ensuring our long-term economic stability, which is why they must be able to compete with every company doing business online in Illinois,” said Quinn. “This law will put Illinois-based businesses on a level playing field, protect and create jobs and help us continue to grow in the global marketplace.”

-Illinois Governor Pat Quinn
March, 20011

9 comments:

Negocios Loucos said...

I purchased a car in Massachusetts in March of 2005 after my 13 year old car was stolen out of my driveway. I paid Massachusetts sales tax. I moved to California in July of 2005 and when I went to register my car I could only do so after paying $700 in SALES TAX. So buddy this already happens.

By the way, want to have a little fun? Go to the California DMV and try to argue this. It's awesome!

They put the tax in to prevent people from flying to Massachusetts, and other states, buying a car and transporting it back to California because California's taxes are so oppressive.

So when we needed a second car here in California, I purchased a 1996 Jetta for $2100($1000 if you check the title exchange with the seller). I can afford a new car, no problem, and someday I'll get one as soon as leave this communist state. Until then, I'll just deal with the repairs. F California.

Anonymous said...

Illinois is California's eastern branch office. It wasn't always that way. I lived there in the 80's and it was nice. Decent quality of life in small German towns with cheap taxes, low crime, rural attitudes and good schools. It started going Douche in the late 90's and went Full Retard from about 2005 onward... kind of tracks the career of a certain politician we all know and love, huh?

Jeff

Anonymous said...

don't feel bad, fellers. name one state that *hasn't* gone full retard on taxes & state gov enlargement. Texas? everybody likes to point to Texas, wants to move there, rugged individualism, low taxes, last bastion of Freedom, all that...

but even Texas ain't what it used to be. yankees and californians have been pouring into the state since at least the late '70's, and (of course) immediately started demanding things "like they had back home". the home they ran away from, because it had become an uninhabitable hellhole, but they always seemed to forget that part.

take houston, for example. i don't know what it's like in austin or DFW, but i've got relatives in houston - richmond and the woodlands - who've done well for themselves. nice cars, swell vacations, $500K houses. (which, for Texas, is a pretty damn big house.) no state income tax, to be sure. but they're paying 8% and change in sales tax, when it was 4% forty years ago; and their _monthly_ property tax bills are almost exactly $1000. (thank you so much, george w. halfwit bush.)

nowheres left to run, boys: they've got us surrounded.

wcv said...

Costa Rica, bitchezz!!

Lorenzo Horalek said...

Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Mike Enzi (R-WY) are proposing this. Why does the headline only mention the Democrat? If you BUY something from an out of state retailer, you have ALWAYS supposed to have been paying your own state the tax that the out of state seller did not collect and remit to your state (usually called a USE tax, the same rate as the sales tax.) The states are losing billions and we have to make up the difference with property and business taxes. I have to collect sales tax on my local sales, why should an out of state seller take my sales away because the buyer wants to evade taxes?.

W.C. Varones said...

Lorenzo,

Maybe CNET hates Democrats. Or maybe Durbin just isn't mentioning Enzi to the press when he pushes this garbage.

Local businesses pay sales taxes because they get services from the state and city like roads and police and fire. Out of state vendors don't consume local resources.

The idea that people must pay a "use tax" to the state for everything they buy out of state is obscene. It sees people as serfs whose only role is to support the state.

You should ask why your state charges such high sales taxes that it makes your business uncompetitive. Sales taxes used to be in the low single digits, which wouldn't have put you at such a disadvantage.

Anonymous said...

The Problem with Texas is that it sucks.

Anonymous said...

"The states are losing billions and we have to make up the difference with property and business taxes"

If an internet sales tax does become a reality, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a roll back of tax levels set upon property and businesses. Illinois was supposed to have a reduction in taxation on property when riverboat gambling was proposed. The revenues generated by same were supposed to go toward school funding ("let's do it for the children" was the marketing slogan used) thus reducing the burden on households. Did that actually happen in Illinois??? ummmmmm, not som much.

Jeff

Anonymous said...

In the interest of fairness, I assume Durbin's bill will provide a federal subsidy for shipping e-commerce orders to customers? We wouldn't want brick-and-mortar stores to have an unfair advantage, since they don't have to bear that cost, right?

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